County’s Bid Policy Is Due for Overhaul : * Landfill Contract Dispute Has Served to Air Out Lingering Procedural Issues

The public had a rare look recently inside the arcane world of county bidding procedures during a recent dispute over a landfill maintenance contract. The county is now updating its policies, a needed review that can only help bidders and the general public understand better how such decisions will be made in the future.

An Irvine construction company, Lumsdaine Construction Inc., challenged the way bidding was handled for a high-stakes county landfill contract, and that triggered a Superior Court order requiring the county to reveal to the firm several competing proposals. The matter was resolved last week, for the time being at least, when the county awarded a two-year contract, renewable for three years, to E.L. Nobles Equipment Construction Inc. and Robert E. Fulton Co. Inc. of Brea, a joint-venture bidder, for the rental of bulldozers and other heavy equipment for county operations at the Bee Canyon and Santiago Canyon landfills.

Nobles and Fulton have held the contract for some time, a bone of contention for other contenders. Lumsdaine argued that the county had awarded the contract to Nobles-Fulton for several years beyond its original contract terms and that it granted uncontested approvals for price increases. And it raised the larger question of whether the county should be soliciting requests for proposals for heavy equipment rentals, or whether it should simply use a straight-out competitive bidding process, with the contract automatically going to the lowest bidder.

The county argues that requests for proposals give it more flexibility. It says several factors can be considered in choosing contractors, such as how a particular bidder intends to do a job, rather than simply giving a contract to the lowest bidder. Lumsdaine says giving the county such discretion allows politics to intrude.

Both sides have a point, and a problem in this case is that there is some disagreement about how much discretion a county has in the awarding of this type of contract under state law. But to avoid the appearance of favoritism and secretiveness in the future, it is good that the county is reviewing its bidding procedures.

Michael Kolodisner, director of purchasing and transportation, calls it a routine process, unrelated to the confusion over the landfill management contract. Still, a clear restatement of policies can help ensure that future competitors know that they are competing on a level playing field.